american university of iraq, suliamania. iraq sunni/shi’a areas
TRANSCRIPT
Who Are the Kurds• Largely Sunni Muslim• Have their own language (related to Persian)• Live in a mountainous region of SW Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria.• Between 25 and 30 million• Traditionally pastoralists – after WW1, farmers• One of the longest ethnic histories in the Middle East –
2400 BC
Short Iraq History
• A British Mandate 1917
• 1921 Kingdom of Iraq declared
• British imported/imposed a Heshemite King: Faisal
Acronyms & Kobane: Syrian Kurds
KRG Kurdish Regional Government
KDP – Iraqi Kurd – Kurdish Democratic Party: (Barzani)
PUK – Iraqi Kurd - Patriotic Union of Kurdistan: Talabani
PKK Turkish Workers Party
PYD - Syrian Kurdish Party
KNC – Syrian Kurdish party